Legislative update: General Assembly heads back to session next week

Wednesday

As the General Assembly prepares to head back into session on June 3, there are plenty of bills affecting both Sussex residents and governements that will be under consideration.

As the General Assembly comes in for the home stretch starting June 3, several bills are in committee now that could affect Sussex County.

House bills (HB) 39 and 42 could expand the Sussex County government. HB 39 calls for the expansion of the planning and zoning commission from five to seven members, which the majority of council opposed. However, they were mostly in support of a five to seven-member expansion of county council under HB 42.

“Bigger government is not a better government,” said Councilman George Cole (R-Ocean View), who was opposed to HB 42.

Both bills are in the Senate Executive Committee.

HB 30, which the majority of council was opposed to, prohibits spraying treated wastewater on state-owned lands. Introduced in January last year, the bill has undergone several amendments and is now before the Senate Executive Committee.
A couple bills deal with Realty Transfer Tax (RTT). HB 111 prevents local governments from collecting RTT on conveyances that occur outside county or local growth zones or in Level 4 areas. Areas exempt from local RTT are subject to a 3 percent State transfer tax, which is divided equally between the General Fund and the Transportation Trust Fund. The county currently collects 1.5 percent in Level 4 areas, which account for 80 percent of the land in Sussex.

HB 420, which is pending action in the House Education Committee, would increase the state’s RTT from 3 to 3.32 percent, with the resulting revenue use to create the Community College Infrastructure Fund. This fund would then be used to repay general obligation bonds issued by the state to finance major and minor capital projects and other expenses of Delaware Tech. Anyone purchasing a home valued at $150,000 or less would be exempt from the higher levy. Supporters feel an increase is needed to provide Del Tech with a dedicated source of revenue to deal with rising student enrollment.

HB 186 prohibits subdivisions outside county or local growth zones or in Level 4 areas. It is before the House Transportation/Land Use and Infrastructure Committee.
HB 239 House Bill 239, the “Public Facilities Bill,” calls for the approval and disapproval of new developments and zoning changes to be placed in the hands of the Office of State Planning (OSP).

The OSP would institute new, statewide impact fees for developers and take the burden away from taxpayers. Minimum standards set by OSP would determine the adequacy of public facilities and services for water, health care, transportation, storm water management, schools and wastewater transmission, treatment and disposal.

The bill is currently before the Transportation­/Land Use and Infra­- structure Committee.
HB 244 provides two components for better land use planning and development by first setting up a process for the transfer of development rights (TDR) and setting up a TDR bank and second, by creating special development districts, which would provide for financing of infrastructure.

The council, which is creating its own legislation for special development tax districts, opposed HB 244. The county’s legislation consists of three options, one to limit bonds to the total amount of site improvements, a second to limit bonds to offsite improvement directly related to development or examine them on a case by case basis.

HB 244 is currently out of committee.

Senate Bill (SB) 122 provides notice requirements prior to the sale of manufactured housing communities, and a right of first refusal provision for the communities. The bill passed in the Senate and is before the House Subcommittee Manufactured Housing Committee.

State officials, manufactured housing residents and the owners of manufactured housing communities were scheduled to meet in a negotiating session yesterday to draft a bill that would give the residents of a manufactured housing community the chance to collectively purchase the community should the property be offered for sale.

SB 122 raises concerns including the possibility that it might not withstand a likely court challenge. A desire to reach a compromise and address SB 122’s perceived flaws led to a long series of negotiating sessions that produced the latest proposal.

SB 206 would require towns to compensate school districts if the town decides to downzone school property. It is out of committee.

Rep. Joe Booth (R-Georgetown) is pushing for the passage of a couple new bills, one being HB 364, which would increase the axle load limit for single unit vehicles and combination unit vehicles.

“They were paying taxes on the weight of axels but the enforcement [limit] was lower,” Booth said. “The bill was written over 20 years ago. This legislation takes out some of the gray area.”

Booth is also working on legislation that would make using an electronically-controlled device (aka a Taser) by those other than police officers a felony, except in the case of self-defense. Booth originally submitted the bill with the word Taser in it, only to find out it’s a trademarked name.

Booth said he will also be busy with cost-cutting measures on the Joint Finance Committee, which has so far cut $40 million, $11 million of which was through “good government initiatives” and about $20 million “off the hide of education.” Just $180 million to go, he said.

Rep. Greg Hastings (R-Millsboro) said he is working on five pieces of legislation but could not comment further at this time.

“I’m not excited about the budget – it has us all in anguish,” Hastings said. “But with hard work and communication, we’ll get through it.”

Sussex Countian

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